New station will need £1.7m extra

8:00am Thursday 13th December 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Jo Winrow, City Hall Reporter

An artist's impression of the station An artist's impression of the station

A further £1.7 million at least will be needed to build a new station at Low Moor, it has emerged, meaning more trains must visit the new station in order to make a strong business case to justify the £7.2m total outlay.

The knock-on effect of increasing to three trains per hour at the proposed station is that the current proposal for 117 car park spaces will need to triple. Transport authority Metro has updated its assessment of parking provision to support the new figures of around 350.

The move comes as it emerged that the planned completion date for the station was put back another year to 2015.

The extra expense on top of the budgeted £5.5m cost for the new station is down to three problems: the presence of old mineshafts significant ground slopes and a difficult topography of the car park site and trackside access previously unidentified gas pipelines.

In addition a further £500,000 could be required as a result of changes to engineering safety requirements for building platforms on a curve, such as would be the case at Low Moor.

And the costs of providing extra car parking are as yet unknown.

Richard Gelder, transportation development manager at Bradford Council, explained in a report: “A budget of £5.5m has been allocated by the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority for the delivery of the station at Low Moor. The latest estimated cost of delivery of the station currently stands at £7.3m (excluding £500,000 for dealing with the derogation issue and as yet unquantified additional capital costs for the larger car park) which exceeds the available budget.

“Whilst efforts are being taken to reduce the estimated cost of the scheme these are unlikely to bring costs down to within the available budget. Previously committed funding remains ring-fenced.”

James Vasey, chairman of Bradford Rail Users’ Group, said they welcomed the moves to increase the number of trains per hour, but was concerned about one of the proposed sites for extra car parking.

He said they would prefer the use of the Transperience site, which while further away from the station, is closer to the M606 and could become a park and ride spot, while keeping extra cars out of the village itself.

It is expected that a “robust solution” for the new station on the Caldervale Line, including a conclusion on route infrastructure and impacts on timescales, will be available by May 2013.

Comments(19)

Joedavid says...
9:00am Thu 13 Dec 12

Sounds like it is a station for those with cars and not foot passengers so find another site without these cost problems and spend less public money.

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Saltaire Bantam says...
9:15am Thu 13 Dec 12

So what if it costs extra. Stop wasting taxpayers money by giving away £11.4 billion in foriegn aid, £8 billion plus to the EU, billions in housing and child benefits. The council were supposed to be building new traffic lights at Saltaire roundabout but nothing has happened.

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Apollo says...
9:39am Thu 13 Dec 12

Never going to happen in a million years. Forget it and move on. Another Jackanory story regarding building in Bradford.

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collos25 says...
10:01am Thu 13 Dec 12

Spend 30million on a rubbish pool for the vanity of a few Councillors but when you need to spend money on something that will benefit the people then lets create all sorts of problems.

Let the council produce the balance sheet for the pool in the park and have it analyzed by independent accountants and then I thing the police will be called.

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vax2002 says...
11:01am Thu 13 Dec 12

The train companies make money from passengers, the last thing trains are is cheap to use.
they want the profits, let them build the station.

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johnhem says...
11:44am Thu 13 Dec 12

Joedavid wrote:
Sounds like it is a station for those with cars and not foot passengers so find another site without these cost problems and spend less public money.
foot passengers can get there by bus, like they do if they catch a train anywhere else.
as for those with cars its another version of park and ride, whats so bad about that if it means less cars on the roads into town?
regarding an overspend, since when did this lot ever get it right first time?

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The obvious says...
12:08pm Thu 13 Dec 12

The council are a joke. Sorry I stand corrected : all politicians are a collective joke and we the ordinary civilian suffers.
You mention mine shafts in the way of construction? Many years ago I worked with a surveyor and noticed that many mine shafts throughout the UK had been filled up with stuff? What this stuff is nobody really knows as no records were kept.
Do not be surprised to find some really toxic and dangerous stuff down there...sooner or later it will seep into the food/water supply and bye bye the little intelligence we have around here. Note that mose politicians do not live around these mines...yes they live well away in quiet places away from us the riff raff!
Utilise your right to express your opinion freely before it is also deemed unfit.

Good money is always wasted and we always have to carry the bill. As the ultimate bill payer I am well entitled to say what I like, how I like to any person or system using the tax payers money to ruin/improve this country.

Today the government has given the go ahead for fracking to extract gas....time to get ready for some major environmental issues all over the country including earthquakes,tremors, pollution and a ruined landscape and Eco system. Just do not tell our councillors that Bradford is sat on a pile of shale only a few feet below our feet.
American,Australian,
south American and some British studies suggest that this type of extraction is very dangerous for the people and the planet...yet our dumb,deaf and blind scientists and politicians have agreed to continue down this perilous path.

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basil fawlty says...
2:17pm Thu 13 Dec 12

Presumably they dont want to build the station as it wont benefit Leeds. And the cash saving will no doubt go towards the extravagant new multi-million pound entrance to be built at Leeds station.
Also, can we please have a roof over the platforms at the Interchange and Forster Square stations as the canopies there are far too short and ineffective for our climate.

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RollandSmoke says...
3:46pm Thu 13 Dec 12

What this proposed new station tells us is that more people are going to need to travel to find work. It is not in any way connected to a need for people to travel for pleasure as they are all ready catered to. If the money were diverted into creating jobs within Bradford the need for the station would not exist.

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Albion. says...
4:04pm Thu 13 Dec 12

RollandSmoke wrote:
What this proposed new station tells us is that more people are going to need to travel to find work. It is not in any way connected to a need for people to travel for pleasure as they are all ready catered to. If the money were diverted into creating jobs within Bradford the need for the station would not exist.
Those who campaigned for the station, consider that the need already exists. It serves both directions, so a good and safe carpark might well tempt a few who travel into Bradford, to park there.

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Outraged English Subject says...
5:39pm Thu 13 Dec 12

Good and safe car park? Read the sign, cars, bikes and contents are left at owner’s risk! Is this proposed station at the site of the now defunct transport museum? What a waste this development is going to be, if it ever gets the go ahead. More tax payers’ money going into the pockets of private rail companies!

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collos25 says...
6:54pm Thu 13 Dec 12

No the infrastructure has nothing to do with the train operators.I do agree they should be renationalized but I don´t see that happening so the more stations we can get the better for Bradford.

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Outraged English Subject says...
8:24pm Thu 13 Dec 12

Understood, however I’ll never trust that these corporations have the interest of the people or the city in mind.

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Albion. says...
8:42pm Thu 13 Dec 12

collos25 wrote:
No the infrastructure has nothing to do with the train operators.I do agree they should be renationalized but I don´t see that happening so the more stations we can get the better for Bradford.
The idea for this station came about due to the efforts of the Bradford rail users group and the late Stanley King (then chairman of Metro), They also pressed for a station at Apperley Bridge.

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Shelfrhino says...
9:15pm Thu 13 Dec 12

The obvious wrote:
The council are a joke. Sorry I stand corrected : all politicians are a collective joke and we the ordinary civilian suffers.
You mention mine shafts in the way of construction? Many years ago I worked with a surveyor and noticed that many mine shafts throughout the UK had been filled up with stuff? What this stuff is nobody really knows as no records were kept.
Do not be surprised to find some really toxic and dangerous stuff down there...sooner or later it will seep into the food/water supply and bye bye the little intelligence we have around here. Note that mose politicians do not live around these mines...yes they live well away in quiet places away from us the riff raff!
Utilise your right to express your opinion freely before it is also deemed unfit.

Good money is always wasted and we always have to carry the bill. As the ultimate bill payer I am well entitled to say what I like, how I like to any person or system using the tax payers money to ruin/improve this country.

Today the government has given the go ahead for fracking to extract gas....time to get ready for some major environmental issues all over the country including earthquakes,tremors, pollution and a ruined landscape and Eco system. Just do not tell our councillors that Bradford is sat on a pile of shale only a few feet below our feet.
American,Australian,

south American and some British studies suggest that this type of extraction is very dangerous for the people and the planet...yet our dumb,deaf and blind scientists and politicians have agreed to continue down this perilous path.
You really haven't got a clue what you're talking about, so shut up.
Fracking could be the best thing that ever happened to this country, giving us independent gas supplies for years to come.

Report this post »

Shelfrhino says...
9:18pm Thu 13 Dec 12

collos25 wrote:
No the infrastructure has nothing to do with the train operators.I do agree they should be renationalized but I don´t see that happening so the more stations we can get the better for Bradford.
The whole rail network should be scrapped and the billions saved should be invested into the motorway and major road network.

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Writer says...
9:36pm Thu 13 Dec 12

I don't think this is going to happen. All we ever get are excuses for delaying the project. All this rubbish about being built on a curve and mineshafts, I seem to recall there used to be a station there for a hundred years or so and this was on a curve. Concerning the mineshafts, well there used ro be a motive power depot as well with fifty or more locomotives weighing 100 tons a piece. There were also extensive carriage sidings, a coal plant and a marshalling yard but I don't remember anything disappearing down a shaft. £7.3m for an unstaffed halt - I wouldn't employ them for any work on my place. What a rip off!

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Outraged English Subject says...
9:52pm Thu 13 Dec 12

And we all know that the £7.3m shall rise exponentially before completion.

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bcfc1903 says...
7:33pm Fri 14 Dec 12

As someone said above Low Moor station would help Bradford...and these decisions are made in Leeds...it's not rocket science...there is a massive bias towards any station schemes helping Leeds. I'd go further ...it's more a bias against the City of Bradford. The rail infrastructure in this city is pretty poor...yet Bradford and District is the fourth biggest in the country so should have good facilities to cater for it's half a million + population. Low Moor station is badly needed in the district...probably far more than Apperley Bridge station which surely would be used more by folk going into Leeds rather than Bradford. Low Moor Station was supposed to be built before Apperley Bridge station...work that one out...what other excuses are we to get...are there no mine shafts in Leeds...laughable tosh just put out arrogantly into the media with absolutely no respect for Bradfordians. Cross Rail and a few more stations in the district would help alleviate the choking traffic that fills Bradford's inadequate road system. Has Metro spent any cash in the Bradford district recently...say the last 10 years.

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